“Much like you were after your parents were killed.”
Tango jerked back as if he’d been slapped. “What the fuck is it with you people and bringing up my past? That has no bearing on this.”
“Madeline’s data suggests otherwise.”
“What the hell does it suggest, Sinclair? That I’m a schizophrenic freak with a shit load of unresolved baggage that I know how to compartmentalize? Gee, thanks, I already knew that.”
“We all have emotional baggage we compartmentalize and bury, Gabriel. But your ability to connect with and unify a dysfunctional group of misfits that by all accounts should have destroyed each other within the first fifteen seconds of meeting…? That is what Delta team needs and what you will give them.”
“What the hell does that have to do with me having killed my parents?”
“Everything,” Sinclair answered. “When your father shoved you through the wall and into the live wire, the electrical current overrode the spell he and his wife placed on you to control and bind your powers. Once negated, you expressed fully and reacted on instinct to destroy the threats to your person.”
“Fine. Whatever. I killed my parents and a squad of hitmen on the front lawn with a shitload of electrical energy that I controlled. That doesn’t qualify me to be Delta team’s miracle worker.”
“It does because you didn’t lay a hand on them to do it.”
“Wrong,” Tango snapped. “I unleashed all holy hell on them and slaughtered them with a sword.”
“No, Gabriel, you didn’t. You manifested electrical swords in all of their hands and commanded them to destroy each other.”
“No. I. Didn’t. Because. I. Am. Not. A. Telepath,” Tango bit out.
“You are.”
“No. I am not. I don’t know how to explain what you think happened, but I was there. You weren’t. I killed each and every one of those fuckers with a sword that appeared in my hand after I sucked a shitload of electricity from the power grid. I did not command anyone to do shit that day and I am NOT the leader you need for Delta. Chase is.”
“Chase is done. You’re in and that, Gabriel, is an order.”
Shit. Fire. Fuck! Sinclair had to go there. The bastard just had to make it a direct order that Tango couldn’t disregard without sacrificing Michael Black to Sinclair. Arguing with him wouldn’t do any good. It hadn’t so far. All it’d done was suck him further into a mess than he needed to be and… son. Of. A. Bitch! What could he do? Pray for a miracle and make a Hail Mary play? But with what? The only thing he had that Sinclair didn’t was knowledge that Laurel was still alive and that… might just be enough of a bargaining chip to do the impossible.
Tango looked up and sent a quick silent prayer up that this play would work, then straightened to his full height and made his sales pitch. “Belay that order and I will fix Delta team.”
“Order stands.”
Undeterred, Tango tried again. “Delay ordering me to take Chase’s place and…,” he deliberately trailed off and hoped like hell it’d be enough of a carrot to entice Sinclair into nibbling.
“And what,” Sinclair demanded.
Attention gained, now to set the trap. Sure it’d be his own trap, but he couldn’t worry about that now. He’d figure it out later once he had a chance to think his way out of this shit storm. Tango closed his eyes, added a few lines to that silent prayer that involved his foster brother not killing him before he had a chance to explain, and then said, “I’ll give you everything you need to fix Chase.”
Sinclair scoffed at that. “The only way to fix Chase is to bring Laurel back from the dead.”
Bait set, Tango pounced. “Do we have a deal?”
The line went silent. Stayed silent. Too silent.
“What do you know?”
“Make the deal and find out,” tango offered.
“Proof first and I’ll consider it,” Sinclair countered.
“Not good enough. I need a deal now and your word that you won’t interfere.”
“Not happening without proof.”
Shit. Sinclair wouldn’t back down. Not without something. He’d have to give him something. But not over the phone. Couldn’t be over the phone. It’d have to be in person and—got it. “You’ll have it after this mission.”
Again with the silence.
This time Tango didn’t push. Instead, he let the seconds tick by and prayed Sinclair would play ball. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Sinclair responded.
“Seventy-two hours, Gabriel. After that, the order sticks.”
“Understood. Tango out.” Tango disconnected and let out the breath he’d been holding. “Fuck, fuck, fuck me,” he muttered under his breath. Could shit get any worse than this? With his luck—probably.
Maddie was stunned. Simply stunned and seeing red. Van made a move with Sinclair without consulting her or his team and… “What the hell did you just do,” she demanded.
“Fuck us all without a complementary reach around. What do you think I did? Whatever I could to stop Sinclair from messing shit up more than they already are.”
“You can’t give Laurel to Sinclair, Van! And you sure as shit can’t do it without consulting me, Sinjun, or Laurel!”
“He ordered me to take over Delta, Maddie, and I can’t disobey a direct order!”
“Yes, you can!”
“No. I. Can’t!”
“But, Van—”
He caught her by the shoulders and got in her face. “I can’t. I made a deal to keep Black away from Sinclair. If I disobey a direct order then it’s negated.”
“Your foster brother is a big boy. Let him handle himself and disobey the hell out of that order right. Now!”
“I can’t,” he shouted back. “Because he needs Amelia and Beau just as much as I need you!”
“Damn straight you need me which is why I’m going to kick your ass for even thinking of doing something so stupid as this!”
“I don’t have time to argue this with you.” Van dismissed her and started searching his phone.
“Make time, because this shit needs to end now.” Maddie snatched the phone out of his hand and shoved it behind her back. “You cannot let Sinclair have Laurel. I don’t care what deal you’ve made with Sinclair or whatever stupid, asinine reason you have for not doing the right thing, you cannot let Sinclair have Laurel.”
“She can’t stay hidden forever.”
“Agreed, but Sinclair? He can’t have her, Van. He’ll put her back in danger and—”
“He won’t,” Van interrupted as he snaked an arm around her and took his phone back.
“Yes, he will,” she cried as she attempted to yank the phone back from him.
“No,” he said and he wrenched it fully free from her. “He won’t, because Sinclair wouldn’t have considered my offer if he didn’t want Chase back on Delta instead of me.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s wishful thinking, Van, and you know it. Sinclair was specific as hell about you always being slated for Delta.”
“Then why did he delay me joining the team, Maddie? He’s had ample time to pull me away from my team and shove me into Delta. Why did he wait until now?”
“I don’t know,” she exclaimed. “Why does Sinclair ever do what he does?”
“Because it suits his end game.”
Tango held up a hand to shush Maddie as he dialed up Michael Black and waited for him to answer. Soon as he did, Tango demanded, “What’s your location?”
“Rooftop across from warehouse,” Black answered. “There a reason why your team bolted?”
“Bravo’s girl called Catfish.”
“Sonofa—,” Black muttered. “This fighting a war on two fronts shit is getting old. Tell me where and I’ll—”
“Leave it,” Tango ordered. “I set it up to get Bravo clear.”
“Thank fuck. What do you need?”
“You to guard Maddie while I’m out with Delta team.”
The line was silent for a goo
d split second. “You’re going for the suit. Good. Andrei needs backup. The auction is set to happen at seven tonight and the dumbass is going without any backup.”
“He’ll have to get it from someone else. Retrieving Maddie’s brother is top on my list.”
“No,” Black drawled. “Backing up Andrei and stopping that suit from opening another portal to Hell is your number one priority after steering Bravo clear of Delta team. Bravo’s out. You’re on the suit. Period.”
“After I retrieve Zed,” Tango ground out between clenched teeth. “We protect our own first. Then and only then will I deal with the other.”
“Won’t matter if the suit is used to end the world.”
Tango smacked a hand against his forehead then dragged it down his face. “Shut up and do as I order. Stay clear of the warehouse until I roll out with Delta team.”
“Gabriel?”
“What,” Tango snapped as his phone beeped with another call.
“You’re a fucking idiot who’s getting his ass kicked when next we meet and they’re pulling up now.”
“Shit.” Tango pulled his phone down and glanced at the screen. Whiskey was calling. Great. Just what he needed. Another ass chewing session with his second in command. “Keep her safe, Michael. Trust no one but me, Ben, and my team with her. Understood?”
“Understood and I won’t be pulling any damn punches.” Black disconnected.
Immediately his phone started ringing. “Damn, damn, damn.” Tango found his ear com and put it in then turned to Maddie. “Delta team is here. Our conversation will have to wait.”
“It can’t wait,” Maddie said. “You cannot—”
“Enough,” Tango roared. “It can wait. Dealing with Whiskey’s tantrum cannot.” Tango answered Whiskey’s call. “Fox and Dell read you in?”
“Have you lost your ever fucking mind,” Whiskey demanded. “We do not lie to our teammates!”
“I don’t have time to debate shit with you, Carter,” Tango fired back. “You’ve got command. Fox, tell him everything. After Bravo calms down, regroup and ready a mission to remove the moron and the power behind him. Commandeer whatever resources from Ben’s group we need to make it happen. We start on it when I return. Clear?”
“Hell no that shit isn’t clear,” Whiskey growled out. “You cannot go off on a mission to rescue Zed without your team as backup!”
“Delta team will be my backup and this is not up for discussion. It’s a fucking order I expect you to follow.”
“Not when you’re about to go off halfcocked and—dammit, Fox, I ordered you to turn this truck around. Now!”
“Belay that order, Fox,” Tango shouted.
“Dammit, Tango, you cannot go off with Delta team to rescue Zed without me there!”
“It’s happening, Carter. Whether you like it or not. It. Is. Happening.”
“It can’t happen, you idiot, because if I’m not there, you will express whatever the fuck you have inside of you and end the fucking world!”
“Why the hell does everyone assume I can’t control my shit,” Tango muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else.
“Because you don’t know what you are and—”
“God slayer. There. It’s been named. Now do your job and follow my damn orders. Tango out.” Tango disconnected and shoved the phone in his pocket.
Maddie stayed silent for all of two seconds before she took over where Whiskey left off and started laying into him. “Dammit, Van, that kind of behavior is exactly what I hate about you!”
“It’s called me doing my job and you’ll get over it.”
“No, I won’t and no, it’s not! You’re alienating everyone who cares about you by doing something stupid that you should have discussed with me, your team, anyone before you did it!”
“Command doesn’t work that way, Maddie,” Tango fired back at her. “I don’t always have time to stop and discuss every damn thing before I make a decision on it. If I see an opening I have to take it.”
“When it has to do with you, maybe, but this has nothing to do with you, Van! This is about an innocent woman who has already been through hell and back and is raising her son all on her own and—”
“You think I don’t know that,” Tango roared as he rounded on her. “Her life, every damn thing Laurel has suffered, endured, and had to put up with is exactly what yours will be if Sinclair forces me to take over Delta team!”
“You don’t know that!”
“Yes, I do!”
“How,” she demanded.
“Because Tolstoy fucking Ivanov is a sick, twisted bastard that Ajax should have confirmed was dead before he left the scene!”
“What the hell does Andrei’s father have to do with any of this?”
“You saw my conversation with Black.”
“Yes, but that—”
There was a knock at the door.
“Shit. They’re here.” Tango went to the door and opened it.
Rafe Waters, Delta team’s second in command was there. Alone. “Hey. You ready?”
“Where’s the rest of the team?”
“Caliv’s refueling the plane. Derek’s making a food run.” Rafe leaned to the side and waved. “Hey, Maddie. You doing okay?”
Maddie nodded. “As well as can be expected.”
“We’ll get your brothers back,” Rafe promised.
“I know,” Maddie said. “Just make sure you bring all of you back in one piece and alive. Because I’m nowhere near done punishing this one for being a stupid, stubborn ass.”
“Copy that and will do.” Rafe nodded to her, then looked at Tango and gave him commiserating look. “Meet you in the truck.”
Tango waited until Rafe was on the platform before he gently shut the door closed. “Chase isn’t with him.”
“He usually isn’t and this conversation isn’t over.”
“I know.” Tango maintained eye contact and let every ounce of her frustrated fury, worry, and helplessness at being forced to stay behind wash over him. He got it. It sucked. Being relegated to the safety zone while the men went out and saved the day. But that’s what he needed her to do. To accept and be okay with. Because there’d be no way in hell he could focus on doing what he needed to if he was worried about her. Tango caught her wrist and gently pried open her fist, then threaded their fingers together and held on. “I need you to trust me on this. I know what I’m doing.”
Maddie responded to the physical touch and started to relax. “Dammit, Van, I do trust you. It’s Sinclair I don’t trust.”
Tango nodded. “I agree, but Sinclair will keep his word. He always does.”
“But what word? The one you heard or the one he meant to say?”
“The terms were specific. I have seventy-two hours to wrap up this mission then give him enough proof that’ll convince him not to replace Chase.”
“Then he’ll know Laurel is alive and she’ll be right back in danger again. But this time it won’t be just her. Her son will be, too.”
Tango shook his head. “I never told Sinclair I’d give him Laurel. Reasonable suspicion she’s still alive is all we need to convince Sinclair to keep Chase on Delta and me off.”
“Without giving Laurel to Sinclair,” Maddie half asked and stated.
“Not to Sinclair. To Chase, yes, but not until we—that’s you, me, Black, and my team—can one hundred percent guarantee the threat to her and her son is gone.”
“It’ll never be gone. Not as long as Chase works for Sinclair.”
“It can once the threat is eliminated and it will be eliminated. As soon as I’m done with this mission,” he promised. “While I’m out, I want you to get with Whiskey and get my team ready.”
“You want me to help,” she sputtered, shocked.
“Of course. There’s no one else I trust more to make sure this is done right.”
Her eyes lit up with what he hoped was happiness. “You trust me?”
“The fact you question th
at means Whiskey gets in a free sucker punch before I kick his ass for being right.” Tango smoothed a hand over her cheek. “I should have told you everything about my past and read you in on the situation, but didn’t because… you hating me isn’t on my bucket list.”
“I’m afraid to know what’s on your bucket list.” She stopped a beat then gave him what he desperately needed to hear. “I wouldn’t have hated you. You’re my Van and, no matter how much I want to slap the stupid right out of you, I still love you.”
Tango smiled and wallowed in the warm and fuzzies her words inspired. “I know and I love you for it more than words can say.” He hesitated then said, “I don’t always show my hand, because that was the way I was raised. Not by the people who spawned me, but my foster parents. They hammered into me the importance of control and being cautious about letting everyone know what I am capable of. Especially after Sinclair started sniffing around.”
“I’m not everyone, Van. I’m your wife.”
“Ex-wife at the moment, but that will change when I get back with a new ring.”
“You better come back,” she warned. “Ring or not, you better come back.”
“Always.”
“Good, because I can live without a ring. I can’t live without you.” She paused. “Or your alter ego.”
“My god slayer isn’t a separate entity, baby. He’s with me and watches my back. Always.”
“Yeah, well, him being inside you and stuffed in a box isn’t healthy. Or normal.”
Tango harrumphed his opinion. “If normal means you’re home, safe, and not best friends with an undercover operative masquerading as a Russian Mafioso, then we’ll discuss it when I get back.” He kissed her, but pulled back too soon. “I have to go. Work with my team. Get them focused on the real mission. Tell them whatever you think they need to know to get it done.”
“Define whatever.”
“Exactly what I said. You have access to my memories now that we’ve connected. Use whatever you need to get their heads in the game. I don’t care if you have to make shit up, just make it happen.”
Devil's Tango (Running with the Devil Book 1) Page 27
